Gen Z only knows school shootings and the possibility of death at school

At this point in the semester, my students in opinion writing class are ready for our morning drill. My opening question: “What are the headlines we’re looking at this morning?”

Immediately, hands shoot into the air. On most days, we begin discussing the breaking news, and how we’d weigh in on each story as editorial writers and as columnists. They are expected to have researched the known facts, and to be ready to share their informed views.  

On this past Wednesday, there was only one story on our minds. I stood at the white board with a marker as my students started mapping out what we knew about a 15-year-old sophomore who had opened fire on classmates at his high school in Oxford, Michigan.